Whale Quest Kapalua brings in $65,000

The second annual Whale Quest Kapalua raised more than $65,000 for whale research in Hawaii at the Kapalua Resorton Maui. Whale Trust and the resort collaborated to raise funds to benefit Whale Trust, Hawaii Whale Research Foundation and the Center for Whale Studies.

Niti Villinger, an associate professor of management at Hawaii Pacific University, was awarded a German Studies Award. She will travel to Belgium and Germany this summer to study current society and culture, focusing on "Germany in a Changing Europe -- Trans-Atlantic Challenges."

Catholic Charities Hawaii received a $2 million City and County of Honolulu Community Development Block Grant for a new facility in Makiki. The social services community center will enable the organization to establish permanent facilities at one location to serve Hawaii's poor. Currently the charity operates out of four separate sites.

Michael Sakalauskas of Kailua, an intensive care unit/emergency department registered nurse, has been appointed to the California State Board of Nursing, Diversion Evaluation Committee.

Sakalauskas is a cruise ship officer/nurse with the Norwegian Cruise Line Pride of Aloha and a nationally certified medical case manager. He will serve until 2011.